On 8 June, the National Human Rights Institution in Libya condemned the continued arbitrary detention of 11 volunteers from the Maghreb Initiative for Solidarity with the Palestinian People convoy bound for Gaza. These volunteers were arrested in Sirte on 24 May while negotiating with authorities there regarding the convoy’s passage. They were subsequently transferred to the Illegal Immigration Control Agency prison in Benghazi, where they have been on a hunger and thirst strike for seven days. They have been denied access to their lawyers, families, and embassies, and are being subjected to extremely poor detention conditions, ill-treatment, and abuse by the security forces holding them. The authorities claim they entered Libya illegally, despite their having valid visas and having entered through Mitiga International Airport and the Ras al-Ayn border crossing, and the Ras Ajdir border crossing.
The detainees are: Ashraf Khoja, Lucas Ezequiel Aguilera, Maria Paula Jimenez, Ana Margarida Franca Santana Baptista, Domenico Centroni, Leonarda “Dina” Alberizia, Jenel Jones, Matias Alvarez, Laura Kvuchala-Sebai, Mehdi Bouzguenda, and the Spanish national Alicia Armesto.